


Silence

by Siloeel



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, Smoking, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:28:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25929658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siloeel/pseuds/Siloeel
Summary: After living in solitude for too long, Leo watched his carefully built up walls start to crack after meeting a certain redneck.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

Life after Grady Memorial seemed to be the hardest thing the group had ever faced, after losing Beth and Tyreese, life seemed to seem to go at a steady downhill. Their plan to make it to Washington DC was put on the back burner, and after running out of gas, their only other option was to walk. So that's what they did, they walked, searching for anything, anything that could help them survive, anything they could call home. Anything to fill the hole in their hearts, left by the things they have lost. So they walked.

Food and water were low, and it seemed as the ever-growing heat of the south was cooking them from the outside in. Nobody ever talked anymore apart from small conversations when it was necessary. Even then, it seemed like it took up all their energy only to have a short discussion about who would go hunting, or who would take out the lone walker blocking their path. 

Everyone was starting to lose hope of ever finding a place to call home or a comfortable place to sleep for that matter. Memories of the jail they once called home plagued their minds, trivial things such as gardening, or reading comics seemed like such a foreign concept now. But with those thoughts came the thoughts about losing the prison. It felt as if nothing they had ever lasted, in the end, they still lost the jail, along with most of the people in it, the memories of the ones they lost, Beth, and Tyreese, Bob, and countless others before that, weighed heavy on their hearts. But even then, nobody had the option to grieve. They had to keep going, or else it wouldn't be just a few of them they lost. But the ones they lost never once left the back of everyone's minds. 

It seemed to have happened in almost an instant, nobody had seen it coming. A large herd, probably around 30 walkers ambushed their group out of nowhere, coming from the woods all at once. On any normal days, the group could take all of the walkers out in an instant. The walkers had all come too fast for anyone to think of a game plan and in their exhausted, malnourished state, everyone was scrambling to think of a way out of this mess. 

They were killing walkers left and right, the sound of gunfire was bouncing off against the trees, making it entirely too loud, but somehow it wasn't as loud as the walkers around them. Everyone was fighting their hardest, bodies dropped around them, but somehow in the confusion of the battle. Carl and Rick ended up split up from the rest of the group, with walkers chasing behind them, hungry for flesh. 

But without a choice, and around 10 walkers chasing after the two of them. They kept running. They kept running even if their legs felt like they would give out, even if their lungs felt like they would explode. Even if the thought of giving up was heavily present in their minds, they kept running. For what felt like an hour, they kept running. 

In that split moment of desperation and exhaustion, Rick didn't notice he was falling. Falling straight down a steep hill. Pain was the only feeling at the moment, searing pain in his left leg. Not only did he not notice the hill as he was running, resulting in him falling down it, but he also didn't notice the number of rocks and stray tree branches in the way. 

In his tumble, he had hit a rock, resulting in what felt like a broken leg.

Carl watched from the top of the hill in horror as his dad fell, body hitting multiple rocks and branches on the way down. He was lucky enough to notice the hill before he fell down along with Rick. But watching his dad fall at a fast enough rate to hurt him badly, made the teenager's heart sink. Without hesitation, Carl slid down the hill after his dad, avoiding all the rocks and other things that could hurt him, and reached the bottom, quickly running over to where Rick was.

His leg was contoured in the wrong way, and due to the amount of pain the sheriff was in, he had passed out. Carl could feel his heartbeat throughout his whole body. Everything seemed to stop at that moment. The sound of approaching walkers was drowned into background noise, the only thing the teenager could hear was the sound of his own ragged breathing. 

His only concern was how he was going to get his dad out of the way from the mouths of the incoming monsters. The young teenager quickly looked down at his dad, and then looked back to the top of the hill where the herd had finally reached the edge of the cliff. Carl quickly took out his gun, aiming it at the walkers. If he was going down, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. The brunette, without hesitation he began shooting the walkers, even if none of the shots were landing, even as the walkers had started falling down the hill, even if he could feel the burning sensation in his body, he kept fighting. 

Within the moment of desperation, Carl heard a loud shot come from behind him, the teen quickly whipped his head around, only to be faced with a man he had never seen before. He was wielding a rather large shotgun, quickly and skillfully taking out the walkers as they fell down the hill. Behind him were two dogs, both very large. The man quickly looked at Carl, giving him a stern look before pointing to behind him, to a rather small house. The teenager didn't even notice the house behind him when he first got down the hill. It was camouflaged between the forest around them, covered in various vines and different plants. The teenager quickly got the hint and put away his gun before getting behind his dad, who was still passed out. 

The brunette quickly got his arms under Rick’s armpits and lifted him up a bit. He wasn't going to be able to lift him all the way, so dragging him would have to do. The mysterious man kept shooting the walkers one by one as Carl dragged his dad over to the house. In that moment he didn't care if the strange man that was helping them was trustworthy or not, all that he cared about was getting his dad to safety. 

The teenager watched as the man kept shooting at the walkers, skillfully killing two walkers, reloading quickly and repeating. Carl wasn't going to lie, the stranger was very skilled, not missing any shot, even if some of the walkers were still coming down the hill. But in a split second while he was reloading, a walker had gotten past him and started making its way towards Carl and his dad. 

“Hey! guy! there's one coming!” He shouted out to the guy, to no avail, he didn't even look in Carl's direction. Did he not hear him? He was being pretty loud? Panic started to rise in his chest as he watched the walker get closer and closer. 

Within a second, one of the dogs at the stranger’s side had run-up to the walker, quickly jumping on it, pushing it to the ground and crushing its head in between his large jaw. Carl looked at the dog in shock as the dog looked at him, tongue out, and tail wagging. That was probably the most badass but scary thing the teenager had ever seen in his entire life. He watched as the dog shook his head, blood, and guts flying all over the place, before trotting back to where the stranger was currently finishing off the rest of the walkers, falling back into place at his left side. Carl watched their strange savior from behind, both of his dogs stayed at his side, and not leaving unless it was necessary. Both sticking very close to his legs. 

Once all of the walkers had hit the ground, the man had turned around to face Carl, who was still attempting to drag his dad into the house but failing for the most part. Every muscle in his body was screaming, he knew the battle was over but he couldn't help but feel on edge, everything had turned sour in a split second, what was stopping it from happening again?

Carl watched the man come over, not saying anything before quickly and effortlessly picking up Rick out of his hands, and looking down on the young teenager, and nodding his head toward the front door. Carl swallowed hard, looking up at the intimidating man above him before giving a quick nod and scrambling to get up, before looking back to the stranger. 

“Hey look if you do anything fishy I won't hesitate to shoot you. Got it?” The brunette tried his best to give an intimidating look to the man, who in response just rolled his eyes, and nodded toward the door again. Carl nodded, before opening the door and holding it open for the man who quickly went inside and put the passed out man on the table, before grabbing a big box of medical supplies out of a nearby cabinet and putting it by the table. 

Now that all of the walkers were dead and he was able to relax, Carl was able to get a better look at their savior. The man was tall, around Daryl's height and he was muscular for being so lean. He was young but still much older then Carl, he looked to be in his late 20’s. He had black shoulder-length hair that was pulled black into a small bun, some strands of hair loose around his face. He could tell he was Asian, but he could not tell what kind. The man was wearing black loose-fitting cargo pants, along with an olive green tee-shirt that showed off various tattoos covering his arms and his neck. To say this man looked intimidating was an understatement, from the tattoos to watching him take out over 10 walkers by himself mere minutes ago, Carl knew this man meant business. But something about his attitude, and his willingness to help his dad. He knew he couldn't be too bad. 

The stranger looked back to Carl, who was still standing near the door before walking into the living room where a few couches sat around a fireplace and quickly picked up what looked like a notebook and pen. The teenager watched as the tall man quickly wrote something in the notebook before giving it to him. 

‘My name is Leo, just letting you know, I'm deaf, but I can still read your lips. Just please try to be clear with your speaking.’ The black-haired man watched as the younger teenager read the paper, and looked back up at him with wide eyes. The older man wasn't surprised, it was quite unbelievable that he could survive this long in the apocalypse with a hearing impairment. Hell if he didn't have help, Leo knew he would have been dead within the first few days. The only reason he was still alive was his dogs. They told him whenever any walker, people, or animals were nearby. Hell, they were the ones to tell him the two people in front of his house were in danger. 

“My name is Carl, and he is Rick, he's my dad. We were separated from our group when a large herd came along.” Leo nodded, before grabbing back the notebook from Carl's hands and writing again. ‘I'm far from a doctor but it looks like his leg is broken, he must have passed out from the shock. I will try to wrap up his leg so he doesn't hurt it more, but I don't think he's going to be able to walk for a bit, you are welcome to stay. ’ The older man looked back at Rick who was still out, and then back to the teenaged boy. Both of them looked incredibly skinny and malnourished. ‘Are you hungry? You both look incredibly thin.’ Leo handed the notebook back to the brunette. Carl's stomach seemed to growl as if on cue. He hadn't had a good meal in over 2 weeks, none of them had. The most they got was a small portion of a rabbit Daryl would get while hunting. 

The younger boy nodded intensely, “I don't think I have had a good meal in over 2 weeks, we have a large group, and we haven't been able to find food for a while.” Leo chuckled a bit before turning around and heading to the small kitchen that was connected to the dining room and the living room. He opened one of the kitchen cabinets, grabbing a can of spam and a can of beans, before closing it and getting to work cooking it for the hungry teenage boy. 

.

“Are you sure you can just spare this much food?” Carl looked back at Leo, before shoveling another spoonful of beans into his mouth. The black-haired man chuckled a bit before grabbing his notebook from the couch next to him. 

‘Don't worry, I have quite a bit, I raided a town east of here completely, and I usually hunt for my food, so I usually only use those in case I can't find any game. Plus there is a small vegetable garden out back’ Carl nodded as he read, before putting his finished plate on the coffee table in front of him. 

“How long have you been here? Looks like you have made yourself at home.”

Leo hummed before looking around the place he called him. It definitely looked homey, various drawings he had done lined the walls, along with various nick nacks and other stuff he had acquired along the way. It was very far from what he called home before the apocalypse, but he had grown to love living in the middle of nowhere, without people. For some reason, having people here made it seem like a totally different house, it felt like the walls were almost too small, that the house was too cramped. 

‘I have been here for around 8 months, how about you guys? Have you and your group been on the road for very long?’ He quickly showed Carl, who looked back at his sleeping father, who now laid across a rather large couch, his leg now in a handmade splint. 

“We have been on the road for a while, it's hard to find a safe place, especially when we have over 10 people.” Leo huffed a bit, over 10 people was a lot, especially when hunting and food were so scarce this time of year. The black-haired man looked back at the sleeping man, he was definitely not going to be able to travel for a few weeks, especially in his current state. 

“I don't think we are going to be able to stay, once he wakes up, we need to go look for our family.” Carl hated to admit it, but they needed to find their group. As much as he wanted to stay in the comfort of Leo’s home, surrounded by walls and food, they needed to find everyone. they needed to make sure everyone was safe. They needed to find Judith. 

Leo wouldn't say he was surprised, but he was definitely a bit shocked. Groups that were this close were rare nowadays. Most groups would abandon anyone at the chance they might be a hindrance. 

‘Okay, but you should at least wait till he wakes up. You should get some rest too, you both can take the bedroom, I'll sleep on the couch.’ Leo handed Carl his notebook, who in turn just nodded cautiously, and looked towards his dad. It wasn't that the black-haired man had been suspicious, or given him any reason to suspect he would do anything bad, but still, Carl got a nervous feeling in his stomach, and Leo could tell. 

‘I know you are nervous, I would be too. The door locks, and you can take the key in with you. I'm sorry I can't offer you any more safety.’ The older man showed the notebook to the teenager who nodded. 

“Yea that would be good. Can you help me take him in?” Carl looked back to the black-haired man who nodded and walked over to Rick, effortlessly picking him up, and walking towards what the brunette assumed to be the bedroom. 

Leo quickly motioned for Carl to open the door, which he did. Inside the bedroom were a rather large king size bed, one that could easily fit him and his dad comfortably, other than that the room was a bit plain, a small pile of clothes laid in the corner, along with a few sketchbooks. 

The black-haired man set the sheriff down on the bed slowly, making sure not to bump his leg at all, before turning back to the teenager, who was still standing in the doorway. Leo quickly grabbed a random sketchbook from a pile on the nightstand next to the bed and scribbled something before giving it to Carl. 

‘The key is on the nightstand, and you can lock the door once I leave. I will be in the living room if you need anything.’ The black-haired man showed it to the teenager before leaving and closing the door behind him. 

Leo sighed, looking at his sleeping dogs on the couch, this was probably the most excitement they had gotten in a week, so surely they would get tuckered out easily. Hell, it was almost too much for him. Without a thought, the black-haired man pulled his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He had gotten a few cartons after raiding a town a while back. It was a habit from his life before the world went to shit he could never kick. While he didn't smoke as much as he did before, he still had around 1 to 2 cigarettes a day. 

Smoking helped cool his head, even for a little bit, the all too familiar nicotine buzz never failed to calm him down when it felt like his thoughts were going a million miles per hour. Somehow, even though he had lost many things when the dead started walking, his past seemed to follow him. 

The black-haired man quickly walked outside. While he usually smoked inside the house, he didn't know if his 2 guests would like it. Leo quickly sat on the pouch and lit his cigarette. Taking a long drag, before exhaling. Today was a lot for him, the whole reason he was staying in this very remote cabin in the woods was to stay away from people. People meant getting close to others, and getting close to others always meant opening up about the past, something he was desperately trying to avoid. 

Leo let out a loud sigh, before resting his head in his hands. 14 people was a lot to take in, but he knew, if somehow, Carl and Rick ended up finding the rest of their group, he was going to be taking in all of them. They would probably end up killing him in the process. That is what most groups would do anyway, not willing to share, only thinking about what's best for the group. And if this group was anything like his last, he was a liability to them. An anchor, something that would only put them at risk and slow them down, and the black-haired would end up thrown away, left for dead. Just. like. last time. Leo could feel the familiar burn of anxiety mixed with smoke in his chest as his thoughts wandered to a bad place. 

He quickly shook his head, before finishing his cigarette and putting it out in the black ashtray, before heading back inside. He needed to sleep, or else the thought would just get worse. Leo said a little goodnight to his dogs, scratching behind their ears, before taking off his shoes and laying down on the free couch. It wasn't as comfortable as his bed, but it would have to do for tonight. He closed his eyes, and within 5 minutes, he fell sound asleep, thinking about how this very well be the start of something new.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey! Get the fuck up now or ill shoot your brains out!”

Leo was woken to what felt like a burning sting on his left cheek, the sudden pain causes his to shoot out of his lying position, fear and shock coursing through his veins and bright stars surrounded his vision for a few seconds but once his vision was cleared, the black-haired man was met face to face with a man, pointing a crossbow to his skull. He looked around in shock at the scene before him. 

There were 6 people in the room with him. 3 men and 3 women, 3 of them had their guns… and a sword? pointed towards his dogs, while the others had their guns aimed at him. It was clear he was in no position to fight back against his unwanted guests. 

“Where the fuck are they? We know they are here.” 

Leo could clearly make out the words of the man pointing his crossbow at him, a little too close for comfort. Did they mean Carl and his dad? Was this their group? The black-haired man looked around anxiously, he didn't know anything about their group besides it was large. These people could very much be people trying to kill the 2 in the bedroom. Did he really want to tell them if they could possibly kill the two? 

“Hey! Fucking answer!” The brunette quickly yelled at him again before giving the black-haired man a hard punch in the face. Leo stumbled back a bit quickly grabbing his face where he was just punched, stars were forming in his eyes. He kept blinking, trying to recover before he looked back towards the group. Nobody else was saying anything, they just kept their weapons trained on him and his dogs. 

Just as quickly as he punched him, the stranger was on top of him, straddling his body to make sure Leo could not move. Repeatedly yelling at him, giving him a punch every once and awhile. It was clear the stranger was not giving up until Leo spoke. Which was going to be kind of a problem?

Everyone else watched as Daryl was beating the black-haired stranger. 

It was gruesome. 

Usually, the redneck was one to keep his composure during dire times, but it was clear to everyone he was on edge. He had every right to be, losing your best friend and his son, tracking them all the way to a remote cabin in the woods, and finding a tall guy with black longish hair and tattoos, sleeping on the couch would put any on edge. For all he knew, he could have killed them or locked them in a room to be tortured. 

And based on how the other guy wasn't talking, Daryl knew something was up, so he took the bad cop route. 

There was nothing Leo could do in this situation except take it, he had been in this situation almost too many times to count and he knew if he moved or tried to fight back in any way, it would only make it worse. He or his dogs would get shot, and by the way, they kept their guns trained on the dogs, they weren't against shooting them. 

He laid there, helpless, his heartbeat going too fast and his breathing erratic, he hated this feeling. The black-haired man hated how familiar this felt, he hated how much it reminded him of before. He took punch after punch, he could feel as his nose started to bleed and his whole face went numb. Until finally.

It stopped. 

“Hey, guys! Stop! He's okay! He helped us!” 

Everyone turned when they heard Carl's voice, and sure enough, there was Carl, standing in the doorway of another room. Relief flooded everyone as they each started running towards the teenager, except for Daryl whose gaze didn't leave from the man on the floor, who was still struggling to stay conscious. 

Michonne was the first one to hug Carl, and after that all of them took turns greeting the teenager, many of them checking him, making sure he wasn't injured, and when they found he was fine, sighs of alleviation filled the room. 

After greeting everyone Carl quickly made his way over to Leo, who was still on the ground. The teenager quickly crouched down to the black-haired man examining the damages done by Daryl. His cheeks and left eye were a bit swollen, and his nose was gushing blood. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Carl looked down at the dog keeper, who just gave a sarcastic thumbs-up, before sitting up. His dogs immediately ran over and licked his face, before getting in front of him protectively, growling at Daryl who was now standing a few feet away from them. Leo’s heart still felt like it was going to beat out of his chest, and it was taking everything in him not to have a panic attack in front of who he now knew was Carl and Rick’s group. 

After making sure Leo was okay Carl stood up and faced his group. 

“His name is Leo, he's the one that saved us from the hoard after dad fell down a steep hill and broke his leg. He killed the walkers and helped bandage up dad. ” Carl turned towards Leo and then back towards the group. 

Daryl scoffed a bit before turning towards the black-haired man. “Then why didn't he fucking say anything when we were asking where you guys were?” 

Leo wasn't able to see what Carl said, but Leo guessed he was most likely explaining the situation, and based on the redneck's response, he was right. The black-haired man quickly gave an eye roll to Daryl before he turned towards Carl with a pleading look. Who then looked back at the rest of his group. 

“He's deaf.” 

The black-haired man watched as the group turned towards him, all sporting faces of shock and remorse. Even Daryl, who did not show it on the outside but said he couldn't help but feel bad. Leo quickly went to grab his notebook, which was still sitting on the coffee table next to the couch, along with the pen. He quickly flipped to an empty page and the other watched his scribble something down and shove it into the redneck's hands. 

‘Hi! My name is Leo! It's a pleasure to have you here! I'm deaf but I can still read your lips! Make yourselves at home why don't you!” Daryl read the obviously sarcastic sentence out loud before turning to the younger man with a scowl. 

“Hey! Liste-” Maggie cut the hunter off quickly, turning to the black-haired man. “Look we are very sorry, all we knew was that the tracks Carl and Rick left behind ended here, we were not really expecting a tall man with lots of tattoos and two guard dogs to be here.” 

Leo’s face softened a bit as he watched the young woman reach out her hand for a handshake. “Let's start over. My name is Maggie, and this is my husband Glenn.” A wave of anxiety came over him, he even flinched a little, but he still took her small hand in his before giving it a little shake. He then turned to look at her husband. 

They were a good looking couple, obviously very much in love and protective of one another based on the look Glenn gave Leo as he shook his wife's hand. Maggie has brown shoulder-length hair that was tied back into a ponytail, she was relatively skinny, probably due to malnutrition along with the rest of the group. Glenn had shaggy black hair and the start of a mustache. He was Asian, Leo guessed he was Korean as well but didn't know for sure. 

After Maggie had introduced them another woman had come forward, she had her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail as well, but on top of her head was a military-style hat. Behind her was a large, very muscular ginger man with a handlebar mustache. Leo almost shook in his presence, he was very intimidating, and by the look, he gave the black-haired man, he was willing to kill to protect his group. Leo felt the all too familiar anxiety rise up in his chest before he was pulled out of it. 

“I'm Rosita and this is Abraham.” 

The last woman came forward next, with a stern look on her face. “Michonne, now where is Rick.” The rest of them turned to Leo after that, probably wondering the same question. He quickly pointed towards the bedroom, before Carl guided them over, to where they had both slept. All of them followed the teenager into the room, except for the redneck who beat him up, whose name Leo had not got yet. 

After they all left Leo felt exhausted, this day was already too much and it was only morning. He walked over to the couch he was dragged off earlier and pulled out his cigarette carton and light. He didn't care if they didn't like him smoking at this point, all he cared about was his craving for numbness in his body. 

He quickly lit his cigarette and took a long drag, smoke filling his lungs as he focused on the pain in his face. His anxiety went down, but he could still feel the watchful eyes of the redneck from the back of his head.

The black-haired man quickly took back his notebook, scribbling down something, before giving it back to the brunette. ‘So what is your name Mr. hothead.’ Daryl took one look at the notebook before giving Leo a dirty look. 

“Daryl. Now listen.” The redneck was quick to walk over to the dog keeper, grabbing his collar and tugging a bit so they were only a few centimeters away. “Let me make this clear. If you even think about hurting anyone in our group. I'll put a bolt in your skull.” His voice was only a bit over a whisper, but from his tone of voice, and the way he treated him earlier. Leo knew he wasn't kidding. The black-haired man felt an all too familiar feeling of nervousness bubbling in his chest, but then quickly pushed down the feeling. Keeping a straight face as he stared back into the blue eyes of the man in front of him.

As if it happened in a flash, Leo watched as the hunter had taken his cigarette out of his mouth and took a long drag, before throwing what was left of it on the floor and stomping it out. 

“Don't smoke in the house.” 

Leo rolled his eyes a bit but on the inside, he felt butterflies. Damn, that was attractive. He grabbed his notebook and wrote before showing it to the other man. ‘I've already heard it, don't worry.’ The black-haired man gave the other a slight push away and his dogs were quick to jump up next to him protectively. Daryl gave him another look before walking away, into the room where the rest of his group were. 

After a few minutes, the rest of the group came out of the bedroom, helping a now awake Rick walk into the living room, and sit down on one of the empty couches. After setting the sheriff down, and elevating his leg on the coffee table. The air in the room was thick. Almost as if the judge had entered the room to determine if Leo was going to receive the death penalty or not. He could definitely tell Rick was the leader of this group and the rest of the group would do anything he called for. 

The sheriff looked towards Leo, who looked at him back, maintaining his cool exterior.   
“Carl explained most of what happened to me and the rest of us.” Rick was speaking clearly, making sure his mouth movements were clear enough for the black-haired man to read, who definitely noticed, and was grateful. 

“I just wanted to say I'm grateful, if you hadn't helped us, we would have died, and I would have been leaving my baby daughter behind. We are in your debt.” Rick gave a little nod of appreciation, as Leo let out a sigh of relief. 

He grabbed his notebook, writing his response down before handing it to the leader, who took it and skimmed over it before reading it out loud. 

“It's no problem. Honestly, you should be thanking my dogs, if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have known you guys were out there. Now listen, you aren't going to be able to survive out there with your leg like that. Carl told me there were a lot of you. As much as it would be uncomfortable, you can stay here until your leg heals, in return, I ask that I don't receive any more punches than I already got, and I will need help with some of my daily chores and such.” Rick looked over to Leo with a thankful look before nodding. 

Daryl was the first to speak up, “What are you talking about, you haven't known this guy for less than 24 hours, and we are just going to stay?! Just like that?! Any second his buddies could be back to kill all of us!” Rick was quick to cut him off.

“We don't have any other choice!” That got Daryl to shut up very fast, he was mad, they had never just trusted a stranger this quickly, and he knew it was a terrible idea, but the redneck was madder at the fact that Rick was right. They didn't have any choice, it was either trust this stranger, or go back to living on the road without food or water, and with the sheriff's condition, they would die for sure. 

The hunter quickly let out an angry huff, before storming outside. He needed to clear his mind, and standing in this small house was not helping. 

Leo understood what was happening, when you're in a big group, especially with people you call family, you are cautious, you make sure everything is safe before you get comfortable. But in their group's case, making sure everything is safe wasn't an option. They had no other options, they were hungry, and tired, and injured. 

For a second the black-haired man contemplated his decision. Having all these people stay was probably a horrible idea, the possibility they might kill him and take all his stuff was still on the table, and he was never used to being around that many people. People lead to bad things. And Leo knew having all these people was only going to make his anxieties worse. But leaving these people to die wasn't his style. For the time they would be staying with him, he would have to keep up his brave and emotionless facade. 

Rick looked towards the black-haired man with a serious face. “We have a few questions before though.” 

Leo felt his heartbeat speed up but still nodded in response. 

“How many walkers have you killed?”

The black-haired man felt a little confused about this question, did people really count how many they killed? Despite his confusion, he still picked up his notebook and wrote down his response. 

“Too many.” 

Rick nodded, “How many people have you killed.” 

This question hit Leo a bit harder. 

He held up 4 fingers. 

“Why?” 

Leo’s breath hitched in his throat, but he still wrote down his answer, giving the notebook to Rick.   
‘They were going to kill me’ 

Truth be told. The black-haired man had never had a good experience with a group, they either tried to kill him and take his stuff or drugged his dogs and actually took his stuff. People meant danger, and no matter how close he got with other groups, they would always view him as the weak point, and at any sign of weakness, they would leave. It was inevitable and he knew it. It wasn't going to be any different for this group. But at this point, he didn't care. 

Rick gave a nod, before turning to the rest of the group, who all seemed to be equally as satisfied with his answers.

Leo took in a sharp breath, putting back on his facade before quickly writing down a note, and handing it to Rick. 

“Now are you just going to leave all of the rest of your group outside? I'm starving, we can make some breakfast.”


	3. Chapter 3

Rick wanted to talk to the whole group before letting them come inside to meet Leo. While the sheriff saw him be pretty trustworthy, he was still a stranger, and strangers were most of the time very bad. The black-haired man may have been the one to save him and his son, but even Rick knows that's not stopping him from having ill intentions. But Rick felt better knowing he had his group here. Power was in numbers. 

After Glenn and Daryl were able to help him out of the house, he spotted the rest of the group on top of the hill. Relief flooded the leader's face as he saw Judith and the rest making their way down the hill to where the rest of them were on the front porch of the small cabin. 

Carol was the first to walk up, Judith awake and smiling in her arms. The short-haired woman’s face turned to shock as she noticed the sheriff's broken leg. Everyone else seemed to be just as shocked when they noticed. They definitely weren't expecting to find their leader in this situation. 

“What happened?” Sasha was the first to speak up, the slight concern on her face was quickly masked by her usual blank expression. 

“When I and Carl were running away from the herd, I didn't notice the big hill.” Rick pointed to the steep hill from where they had come from. “I ended up falling down it and hitting my leg on a rock and passed out. According to Carl, he tried his best to protect me from the herd as they kept coming, and all of the sudden, a man came to our rescue. He and his dogs killed the remaining walkers and brought us inside. I woke up this morning when you all came inside.” Rick looked towards the rest of the group with a serious face. 

“I'm not going to be able to keep moving in this condition. Leo offered to let us stay here until I'm able enough to walk. He has been good to us so far. But he is still a stranger. We cannot let our guard down for a second. Keep an eye out. And at any hit of betrayal… kill him.” 

The rest of the group nodded. As they looked towards the house. They could only guess what kind of person could kill a large group of walkers by himself. 

Daryl and Abraham helped Rick back out of the small chair and onto his foot before the sheriff turned to the rest of the group once again. 

“By the way. He's deaf.” 

Leo stood up from his seat on the couch as he heard the door open. First meetings were never something he was good at. He had managed to wipe the blood off from his face, but nothing was going to make his own blood on his shirt go away. He just hoped his current black eye and stained shirt didn't scare anyone. 

The black-haired man watched as the large group made their way into his tiny cabin. 

There was a woman with short grey hair who looked fragile but based on how she was holding the large assault rifle in her hands, she wasn't. He noticed another woman standing next to Rosita, she had on a red flannel and her short brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. There was a new man standing next to Abraham as well, he was a wimpy looking man with a mullet, if he was in any other situation, Leo would have laughed at the funny haircut the man was sporting. There were a priest and another woman with a green jacket who had a face that Leo could only describe as troubled and erratic. Not to mention another teen boy and a baby. 

The short grey-haired woman was the first to greet him, giving him a caution and analyzing smile. “My name is Carol, thank you for letting us stay with you.” 

Leo nodded before quickly writing in his notebook and giving it to the woman. 

‘My name is Leo, and these are my two dogs, Beetle and Roach. We are welcome to help.’ 

They all turned towards the two dogs who were still laying next to each other on the couch, glaring at the rest of the group with caution. The black-haired man turning around signed to them, telling them it was okay, to be at ease. The 2 dogs perked up at that and jumped out of their seats and towards the group. They all flinched, hands on their guns, and the two large dogs came up to them, but quickly eased up and they sniffed around and started licking their hands. 

Beetle and Roach were the nicest dogs he had ever known once they were at ease. It wasn't often they saw other people or animals, but then they did they were always excited to receive attention. He didn't have them before the world had fallen, in fact, if it wasn't for a dog trainer that was in his previous group, he definitely would not be where he is today.

Leo called his two dogs back to his side before he quickly scribbled on his notebook before handing it to the grey-haired woman. ‘ There are cabinets full of food in the kitchen, help yourself to some breakfast, you could also make a fire if you would like to cook.’ The black-haired man smiled toward the rest, who seemed just about as happy and as shocked as kids on Christmas morning, before he held up his cigarettes, toward Rick, signaling he was going to go outside for a smoke.

Rick nodded and watched as Leo walked out the front door with his two dogs. He then turned to Daryl who nodded in acknowledgment before heading out the front door after Leo. While he seemed trustworthy, Rick wasn't going to take the chance of putting his family in danger. 

Everything was a lot to take in, and Leo knew he was one more surprise from a breakdown. He took a long drag of his cigarette, holding it for a second before breathing it out again. He looked out at the open field, his back against the brick wall of the place he had called home for months. The wind was strong today, the trees blew in the breeze, the sky was clear and the clouds were moving above him. Leo took another drag, trying to calm him visibly shaking. How he longed to hear the chirping of the birds or the sound of crickets at that very moment. He breathed out again, closing his eyes for a moment. 

Daryl watched the black-haired man sit there from about 10 feet away, monitoring him, making sure he did nothing to hurt his family, and if he were to make any fishy movement, the redneck was prepared to end the man. He honestly didn't understand why Rick was letting him live. Yes, Leo had saved Rick and Carl, but he also was a new person. A new person with a lot of food, and a lot of resources that they all desperately needed. It was survival of the fittest right? Daryl sat there, the chirping of the bird's background noises to his thoughts. He could kill the boy right now. He could kill him and his group could live for a few more months. But at the same time, Daryl watched the dog keeper sitting against the house, on this hot summer day, and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to kill him. The hunter didn't know if it was because he felt bad for him, or if it was his guilty conscience that was creeping up with him, but Daryl was not going to be able to kill him. 

Not right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! im back, sorry about not posting, school and work have been very busy, but I'm going to try my best to get back into it! 
> 
> Thank you guys for your very nice comments, honestly, you guys are the reason I remembered about this story! I hope you liked the new chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I have decided to rewrite my story "Listen to me" altogether since I really didn't like it! I hope you guys enjoy this new adaptation!


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